He practiced Passionist austerities, which continued after his appointment as a bishop, including him favoring his religious habit rather than the usual episcopal garb.

Strambi was known for his charitable projects that included the care of the poor and the reduction of diocesan expenditures in order to provide for them; he took special interests in the education and ongoing formation of priests.

[2] Strambi was exiled from his diocese 1808 after he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the First French Empire under Napoleon, who had annexed Macerata.

It was at this time that he became quite attracted to the notion of the religious life though his frail health saw him refused admission into the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and the Vincentians.

Before his ordination to the priesthood he made a retreat at the convent in Vetralla which belonged to the Passionists; it was here that he met the founder St Paul of the Cross.

In September 1768 the founder relented and Strambi commenced his novitiate assuming the name in secolo Vincenzo Maria di San Paolo.

His parents were not too pleased with this and his father objected to the decision citing his son's frail health as a sign that Strambi would die due to the rigid penances.

In 1773 he was made a professor of theological studies at the order's house in Rome - at Santi Giovanni e Paolo - and it was here that he was present at the death of Paul of the Cross.

In 1784 he was relieved of these duties in order to write a biographical account of Paul of the Cross[5] which was later published in London (Blessed Dominic Barberi wrote the preface).

The death of Pope Pius VI saw his friend Cardinal Leonardo Antonelli nominate him for the papal see and he even received five votes in the conclave.

[6]The invaders had left much damage in their wake - not just destruction to infrastructure - but a lax sense of morals and values which Strambi worked hard to rebuild.

Strambi met with the leader of the French forces and begged him not to enter the town to which General Murat agreed.

Strambi tried several times to secure his resignation from Pius VII but on one occasion the pope reprimanded him for using ill health as a vain excuse and dismissed him.

Mourners who viewed his mortal remains included Cardinal Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari - future pope Gregory XVI - who took Strambi's right hand in his own and formed it with the greatest of ease into the sign of the cross.

The cause for Strambi's canonization opened on a diocesan level for the collection of testimonies and documents in relation to his life and his episcopal works.

The recognition of his life of heroic virtue led Pope Leo XIII to name him as Venerable on 1 April 1894.

[4] Pope Pius XI presided over the beatification rites on 26 April 1925 and signed a decree on 25 November that allowed the cause to continue.